Suzhou and Shanghai

My birthday weekend was fantastic.


First thing, I Skyped the familia, which is always fun.


This morning I went to the massage/spa place that I discovered yesterday while biking around. It was heaven. First off, she totally remembered me from the day before, and remembered what I wanted. She led me upstairs (away from awkward eye contact from passerby's) and filled a bucket of super hot water. I put my feet in and gave them a good soak, and she put different herbs and stuff in the water. That alone was wonderful. At first she sat on the seat next to me, but then got up and gave me an amazing back rub. She hit all my muscles, muscles I didnt even know hurt until she rubbed. When she found a knot, she got rid of it. Then she washed my feet and wrapped them up in a towel. After that she motioned for me to lay back on the pillow, with a lightweight comforter on me. Then I just sat there and basked in the comfort as she worked her magic on my toesies.
So she finishes with my feet, and I think awesome! this was a great adventure. well then she keeps massaging. At first I panic, I didnt want a full body massage. She massages up and down my legs and flings them high in the air a few times. Then just as I start to panic that she is going to get reallllll personal with me, she is finished.
All in all it was a fantastic experience, and I plan to go again next time I hit up Suzhou. (which will be soon, after the flowers are in full bloom).
I rode my bike around a bit more, just enjoying the beautiful day and trying to get to know the city a bit more. For lunch I had a carrot and orange juice and one of the twisty potato things that have good spices on them. (Dad, you and I are totally juicing when I come home for the summer, remember this is a good combination to try.)
Upon arriving at the train station, a lady was trying to sell something. I said no, and instead of harassing me like I was expecting her to, she left me alone. But then she got on the escalator right next to me and I thougtht "well this is uncomfortable..." During the ride up she saw my train ticket and pointed me in the right direction, which I thought was very nice even though I didnt need the help.
While on the train I met a Chinese college student who sat by me half way through. His English was so good! It was very nice to actually talk to someone instead of having them stare. He is changing his major to English, but doesnt have the chance to practice with a Native speaker often (rather common problem over here) so he was chatting up a storm. I found out he is studying in Nanjing, so we are all going to hang out sometime. Yay for making Chinese friends! I told him I was turning 22 today, and laughed really hard when he said he thought I was 28. I have no make up on my face, and it shows on my face how hot and uncomfortable it is outside. But most Chinese people look way younger then they are, they all have baby faces. Then he told me when it was my stop, which was very helpful. You have approximately 2 minutes to get off the train when it stops or you are SOL (soooo out of luck)
Bre called me and instead of saying hello started singing happy birthday to me, while she was in a park with other people watching. I am very loved :)


This last weekend we went to Shanghai for district conference.
Shanghai is a beautiful city, its so busy and feels so alive. We walked East Nanjing road, which is this really famous/busy road. It ended at The Bund, which was beautiful at night and during the day. I found a pair of jeans at F21, which I was stoked about because I needed another pair badly. Then we went into Burger King (with a certain amount of shame, but hey I was on a budget) where we met some funny French people who entertained us by making a car out of the left over cardboard from our meals. Then they proceeded to make engine noises, effectively scaring away the Chinese couple down the table. It was hilarious.
For the conference, we were able to stay at a very generous member's home and got a Western breakfast! Oh, it was fantastic. Scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes and real apple juice. And they just had the cutest little boys, crazy full of energy and waking up at the crack of dawn. I felt like I was at Abby's house again ;)
On Saturday we met up with all the YSA of China (the ones who came anyway...) and we went on tours for China. I went to the Yuyuan gardens. It was beautiful, the flowers were starting to bloom and the air actually smelled fresh. I also took a ferry ride with some newly acquainted friends, it was fun to be on the water, and it was a crazy mad dash to get on the boat before everyone else so you can have a good view.
Sunday afternoon there was a German who spoke to the YSA at a special devotional. It was really cool to listen to someone growing up in a communist country, who then ended up working and living in another communist country. He grew up with some major setbacks in life, and then got his education in a very unorthodox way, and he really made something of himself. It was cool, it gave me motivation. I am so close to getting my Bachelor's, which is a little scary (TheWholeBecomingAnAdultThing) but then I remembered that I have so much potential in this world, I can do whatever I want with my life. I am getting excited!
grateful


THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:]
-watching my students rocking out to Imagine Dragons in class
-Playing basketball with my students
-my delicious birthday cake, with whipped cream!
- meeting foreigners from all over the world
-skyping roommates
-  strawberries, milk and laundry detergent from my school!!! (I may have started to cry just a tiny little bit, that stuff is expensive over here)
- wonderful sunshine for the last few days

My sweet hostel in Suzhou. I rented one of those bikes and rode around on my birthday.

This is actually a more manly murse then commonly seen. Its totally acceptable over here for men to carry purses.

Kelso loves me!

                                           

My delicious birthday cake.

The crew that celebrated with me.

Apparently my name is Morry now. Its kind of adorable that they mis-say my name.

HAHA. Tori sent this to me on my birthday. So true.

I made this new friend on the train coming back from Suzhou. His English is very good, but sometimes he phrases things weird . However, this is yet another example ( I have a million of 'em) of people being so nice to me!

I may have already talked about her, but I love this girl! Her English is very good, and she is one of my favorite students. She asked me to be Taylor Swift so she could interview me for her drama class. And then I sang...

Ashley!!!!

East Nanjing Road. Kind of like China's version of Time Square

One of our entertaining French friends we met. Yes, we just had to hit up BK while we were in "the big city"

His genius contraption. Which he started to drive around the table and make shifting noises to the Chinese people down the table... they left shortly after.

The Bund at night!

Yuyuan Garden in the old city Shanghai.

My Carlee! Best hug I have had in awhile.

The Bund again

New friends! 

Took a ferry, felt like cattle running from the person about the brand them

Walking around Zhenjiang

 

 

You would not believe how much stuff people stuff on these tiny little carts.

 

 

I love riding my e-bike!

 

Sunset at my school

 

 

 

Fishnets on the Yangtze River

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lady carrying balloons just made me so happy.

China Food

 

 

One thing: One of the first questions any Chinese person will ask you is if you like Chinese food or not. I learned the correct answer quickly.

 

 

 

 

There are a million drinks to try in China. Sometimes I am wary of trying them, but I try maybe one a week. There are others that try new ones every time they go to the grocery store. Anyways, above is a popular one. This is a yogurt smoothie drink. I tried it, but I didn't really like the after taste, it kind of coats the inside of your mouth and it really weirded me out that it wasn't refrigerated. It was okay to try, but I wouldn't drink it again.

 

 I found my beloved Diet Coke once. ONCE. In all of China I found one sketchy looking convenience store with 4 cans. The people of this fine country only drink Coco Cola, the gross kind. So now I drink herbal teas, orange soda, and hot chocolate.

 

 

The night I got food poisoning:

 I ate hot pot ( Like fondue. I thought it was alright, but not impressed)

 

 I also was so excited when I saw this  asia pizza dough thing, little did I know I would be upchucking 6 hrs later. I still am not sure what it was that made me sick, but either way I am not eating either ever again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baozi – (pronunciation: bow-tza)- This is really cheap, and really good. It usually costs 7 rmb (a little over 1.00 US) for a pan of it. Its meat inside of some dough. Another kind has soup inside of it so you have to be careful when you bite into it so the juices don't go all over. Normally I use chopsticks to eat, but I had a bad experience which involved dropping the baozi, splashing vinegar and soy sauce all over and staining my friends pants. Since then I avoid eye contact with everyone in the restaurant and eat with my hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 And this is a typical dish. Noodles and pork. Yummmm.

 

Squid! It was actually really good, which I was not expecting. As in, I would eat it again. Unlike scorpion. Absolutely no desire to eat scorpion, starfish, or sea cucumber again unless I was triple dog dared or something.

 

The starfish tasted burnt, dried out and kind of crunchy.

 

 

One of the tastiest treats ever. Strawberries coated in this sugar molasses stuff. I haven't found them since Beijing, there were theories made of it being a winter thing. Either way, its my favorite.

 

 

 This is at the weird food night market in Beijing.  Oh the smells of China.

 

One of my favorites, full of chives and green onions.

 

Beijing is known for its duck, so we just had to have some while we were there. It was good, but a little greasy and expensive.

 

Corn with this crunchy coating on the outside, really good on the day I had a sensitive stomach.

 

That's right. My family is probably laughing their face off as they read this. I found pizza in China. (my moistest favoritest food of all time). No Shame.

 

Just some good ol' street food. It ends up being China's version of an enchilada thing.

 

 

The other side of the mug says "I never leave home without them!" hahaha. There are terrible English translations over here. There is a café that we like to hang out at because it has reliable wifi. She makes really good hot chocolate, with whipped cream and green apple flavored marshmallows ( I don't even like marshmallows, but I love her hot chocolate).

 

 

But this is my favorite. The best fried rice I have ever had, with this orange juice smoothie. Yum Yum Yum.

 

Cheers to trying new foods!